Monday, May 14, 2007

Trying To Be More "Health-ful"...

It is amazing how GOOD I feel just a couple of weeks post Novantrone...this happened after my first infusion, too. About 10-14 days following the blue dye drug, I have what I am calling my "flight into wellness" period...I get a few weeks of feeling almost as good as I did prior to being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 4 years ago.

So I've decided while I'm having my "flight", I will try to maximize the time (because I can anticipate nothing good lasts forever...like last infusion, I base this prediction) and also support a flight into "healthfulness" as well.

I have not yet craved Mountain Dew...odd, yes I know. LOL So I simply have not had any caffeine to drink even AFTER DownSize Me ended (minus one cup of hot chocolate over the weekend, of course!). I HAVE had a malt and a bit of chocolate syrup on some ice cream since Friday...sue me.

But what I HAVE been trying to do is eat a more rounded diet (you mean chips and vending machine food ISN'T considered "rounded"?!?). I have been eating more salads, either buying them or FIXING them (yes, PEEJ...I DID fix myself a salad tonight in my OWN kitchen, thank you very much) and trying to eat more vegetables in general.

I also started walking again last week...well, actually I never gave up WALKING, but I'm talking about distance walking here. LOL Tonight, I came home from work and immediately made myself go out and stroll the "hood"...I ended up doing 2 miles of strolling (how do I know this?...because I have one of those fancy schmancy satellite pedometers, that's how!), which felt "good" initially. I have to be fairly careful in not over doing distances, lest my spastic calves begin to seize up on me and render my lower legs useless. I'm a bit stiff tonight after my walk, but I think I'll be OK in the morning with a pinch of Zanaflex for good measure. I also did a tiny hand weight work out on my floor while watching some silly sitcom...talk about a "flight" into wellness!

It seems somehow a remote memory that just 4 years ago I could walk the Seattle half marathon (13.1 miles) in under 4 hours...I wonder sometimes if I will EVER be able to do such a thing again. But with Saint EB planning to "bikacide" in my name in September, I feel I should also TRY to maximize my own physical fitness...to whatever level that might be now.

I don't have to work tomorrow, so I plan to take advantage of the non-alarm morning and try to catch up on my beauty rest also...I have years of sleep to bank before THAT will ever be fulfilled, but still I try...LOL Much like my efforts at physical "fitness", beauty rest may just be a pipe dream.

Yes, it is! If the Novantrone is like last time, I will get a good 3 weeks of "WELL" out of it, forget I have MS, and pretend to be "normal" during this time...OK...thinking I'm CURED of MS is probably easier than thinking I'm NORMAL, but you get the picture...LOL

Survivor MS

HAWAII 2014 PARASAIL

EMAIL:

LOCATION:

Seattle, WA, USA

AGE & OTHER TRIVIA:

53/female/Leo

DIAGNOSIS:

Relapsing & Remitting Multiple Sclerosis--Diagnosed 04/15/2003--(because having to pay taxes that day just wasn't enough!)

MEDICATIONS:

I have taken Copaxone, Avonex, IVIg, Tysabri, and 5 doses of Novantrone in 2007. I also participated in a Rituxan Study in 2005-2006. In the fall of 2007, while still on Novantrone, I began having "break through" symptoms, which became more and more frequent. In March 2008, I had an MRI that showed many enhancing lesions--Novantrone was no longer effective. Tysabri had been discontinued in November 2006, due to a questionable "anaphylactoid reaction". I received my first restart dose of Tysabri on April 8th, 2008, without experiencing ANY allergic response...I completed 9 doses of Tysabri in 2008, but continued to have some relapsing symptoms. I have, since December 2008, stopped all Disease Modifying medications and feel great...but don't tell my neurologist!